Lawyer accuses state attorney of influencing judge’s removal from docket

Saturday

Aug 2, 2014 at 10:35 PM

Ocala attorney Henry Ferro is accusing State Attorney Brad King and his office of extortion and forum shopping.

By April WarrenStaff writer

Ocala attorney Henry Ferro is accusing State Attorney Brad King and his office of extortion and forum shopping by using their influence to have “pro-defendant” County Judge Robert Landt taken off the criminal docket.

The accusations came last week in the form of a lengthy email Ferro sent to several attorneys and members of the judiciary.

“Mr. King and the Office of the State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit have placed their heavy hand on the scales of the justice system to remove a judge (from the criminal docket) that they believe to be unfair to them,” Ferro alleged.

A copy of the email was provided to the Star-Banner by administrative Circuit Judge David Eddy in response to a public records request.

In the email, titled “Independent Judiciary,” Ferro asserts the circuit’s independent judiciary is under attack.

On Friday afternoon, Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway denied the allegations. “The idea that the State Attorney’s Office has either the ability or the willingness to extort the judiciary into doing what they want is absurd,” he said.

Ridgway pointed out the judiciary, not his office, decides judicial assignments.

When asked via phone on Friday why he sent the email, Ferro referenced the United States Constitution and freedom of speech.

In the email, Ferro emphasizes the need for separation of powers between the judicial and executive branches of government.

The statements come after a switch in the judicial assignments for the county judges that took effect Monday.

As of that date, Landt is the only county judge no longer hearing criminal cases. Instead he now presides over small claims, infraction and traffic cases.

Historically, county judges have divided the case loads evenly.

“Most if not all the lawyers that became aware of what happened with regards to Judge Landt are extremely troubled by the precedent that it sets and there are a number of us that are trying to make sure that something like this never happens again,” Ferro said during an interview Friday. He has been a lawyer for 30 years, once served as a circuit judge in South Florida, and unsuccessfully challenged King in the 2000 election.

Ferro made clear he is not speaking on behalf of all lawyers in Marion County, but said he has spoken with a number of attorneys about the judicial change.

Ferro’s email details the case of a defendant arrested last August for violating a municipal ordinance.

The defendant, being represented by an assistant public defender, appeared before Landt in September. The judge was advised the defendant suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and therefore the court determined the man was not competent to proceed.

Landt dismissed the charge. The state appealed and the decision was ultimately reversed, sending the case back to Landt.

In May, King filed a motion to disqualify the judge, citing comments Landt made that concerned the state.

King accused Landt of referring to the State Attorney’s Office as “the geniuses” who appealed the dismissal and saying the appeal was evidence that the state “had more money than it knows what to do with.”

In a tartly worded June order recusing himself from the case, Landt fends off the allegations.

Ferro says that case is just one example of the state disagreeing with Landt’s rulings.

“During the last several months, the Office of the State Attorney has been gathering information that negatively impact upon Judge Landt and has even resorted to the use of an affidavit in support of a Motion of Recuse that is false,” Ferro wrote in his email.

Ferro accuses King and the members of his office of authoring a proposed complaint against Landt to the Judicial Qualifications Commission, an independent agency created to investigate alleged misconduct by Florida judges.

Ferro alleges King met with at least one member of the local judiciary and “demanded Landt’s removal from the criminal docket of Marion County.”

“In the event that Judge Landt was not removed from the criminal docket the proposed complaint with the JQC would be filed,” wrote Ferro. “In an effort to ostensibly protect Judge Landt and keep this matter from becoming public, it was decided that Judge Landt would be reassigned.”

According to Ferro’s email, the only legal recourse for King was to file a complaint with the JQC.

“Instead, Mr. King circumvented the legal process and engaged in direct self-help in assuring that his office would not have to deal with Judge Landt by forum shopping,” Ferro wrote.

He defines forum shopping as having a case heard before a judge most likely to grant a favorable judgment.

In his email, Ferro points out there are 15 judges in Marion County today and eight of them are former employees of the State Attorney’s Office. All of these judges are either elected or appointed by the governor after he receives a list of qualified candidates from the 5th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission.

“The people of Marion County elected Robert Landt as a county judge (with a criminal/civil docket). The candidates expressed their judicial philosophies and the people elected Robert Landt,” wrote Ferro. “The arbitrary removal of this judge from the criminal duties is an affront to the thousands who exercised their vote in 2012.”